Intellectuals and people at pains to look “intellectual” can rely on fool-proof ways to make sure they get the recognition they crave. In Dublin or London, you may notice them carrying a copy of the London Review of Books. in the U.S. they will show off their copy of the NYTimes, and all over the world a certain type of people never fails to mention in conversation that they are subscribers to The Economist.
In Germany, people who cannot afford to travel first class, or to move to Swizerland, but who are nevertheless keen to draw the line between themselves and the common people, will read “Die Zeit” — in public, if at all possible. There is something ironic about this, as “Die Zeit” is the most widely read weekly of all, hence representing something of the mainstream of mainstream publications. Nontheless, it remains the “intellectual” paper par excellence.
Now don’t get me wrong – I love “Die Zeit”, and it is often my first choice of German language weeklies. But sometimes, just sometimes, the line between high-brow and just-bullshit gets sadly blurred. Consider the following feature on zeit.de, for example:
“Leitfiguren — Menschen statt Helden. In der Ära der Instant-Stars faszinieren gebrochene, nicht perfekte Persönlichkeiten. Wir zeigen Personen, an denen man sich ein Beispiel nehmen kann.”
A lame gallery of pin-up celebrities-for-the-coffeehouse-intelligentsia. Easily the most unspirited, drab and predictable collection of rockstars, leftist politicians, spiritual leaders and all the rest that you know you will find there. From “Kurt Cobain, Musiker” to “Mutter Teresa, Wohltäterin” — all thrown together. Pathetic.
No I suspect that bloredom.de can do much better than zeit.de. I propose that Stefan and myself will present, over the next days or so, our personal “Leitfiguren”. Let’s see what happens.
